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Jill's Journal — Week of 3.10.2025

GR festival, photobook contests, and protecting empathy.

Happy Friday, photo friends!

Summer has suddenly, dramatically turned to autumn here in Zürich and I’m happy to be wearing my black trenchcoat again. Next week I’ll be in Paris for Salon de la Photo which will be a blast and a marathon for this introvert. :) Here are some fun announcements and a tasty quote for you:

  1. I am a judge for GR Photo Festival 2025

  2. Rejection! I did not win the photobook contest, but…

  3. Fine words from Jim Jarmusch

1. I am a judge for GR Photo Festival 2025

First up, some great news! I’m happy to share that I’ve been selected as one of ten international judges for GR Photo Festival 2025. (That’s me top center.)

I have been a fan of this competition for years and am excited and honored to participate. The theme as always is “Daily Life” which results in a unique variety of images and entrants vs. typical contests. From their site: This photo contest is different from conventional contests, where entries are ranked in order of excellence, in that professional photographers from around the world will be commissioned to select works from their own perspectives.

Entry is open October 1 – December 21, 2025. Selected entries will be announced in February and exhibited in early March 2026.

You can learn more and enter here.

2. Rejection! I did not win the photobook contest, but…

I entered JOURNAL — No. 1 in the Paris Photo x Aperture PhotoBook Awards and found out yesterday that… I did not make the shortlist. Sadness. :( But! My submission will now be in the Aperture photobook library in NYC — which is still damn cool. It pleases me to think of my mag lounging about at 548 West 28th Street.

One of these days I will write about the highs and lows of photography contests and why I still do them… sometimes.

Another one of my photobooks, M23 Myōgadani is on display in Tokyo this week as part of the travelling library for Ephemere Photo Fest. I’m also participating as both an exhibitor (one photo) and as a co-curator of the recently published photobook Neither Here, Nor There.

3. Fine words from Jim Jarmusch

I came across this recent quote today that deeply resonates with me as an artist in these times. Jim Jarmusch is an independent filmmaker whose work I’ve long admired. Last week I saw and loved his new Father Mother Sister Brother (2025) at Zürich Film Festival.

Source.

THIS: The political thing is to protect empathy.

This is one of the main things that drives my own work.

And maybe yours?

Thank you as ever for reading.

Have a beautiful weekend! Take some cool photos.

Until next time,

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11 responses to “Jill's Journal — Week of 3.10.2025”

  1. søren k. harbel Avatar
    søren k. harbel

    I got the shortlist sent to me from Paris Photo yesterday. I went through all the links. Save maybe one, I was extremely underwhelmed. I think you should have been shortlisted! For sure!

    Reply
    1. JILL.PHOTOS Avatar
      JILL.PHOTOS

      I absolutely love that you’re on top of Paris Photo happenings! This just fuels me to try again next year. If you don’t mind sharing, which was your favorite?

      Reply
      1. søren k. harbel Avatar
        søren k. harbel

        I think there are two things… do I like the layout and the way the book was made, or do I like the content. Not the same thing. In the first category, I liked “The Dog Sat Where We Parted”, and “A Study on Waitressing”. it looked like good printing, mix of papers, and overall well put together books. In the second: I liked “Lusaka Street”, though it is too similar in many ways to the work of Sidibe and Kaita. There seem to be endless ‘discoveries’ of studios in Africa. I thought the trend was over, but these ones are pretty good.

      2. JILL.PHOTOS Avatar
        JILL.PHOTOS

        Thank you for the thoughtful detailed response — it piqued my curiosity for some I hadn’t looked at yet. I really like the look of “A Study on Waitressing” too. These days I am admittedly more interested in thinking about the first category, i.e. book form / craft. I like “Niemandsland” in that category and “My father died three times / Meu pai morreu três vezes” across both categories.

      3. søren k. harbel Avatar
        søren k. harbel

        HI Jill, I did look hard at “Niemandsland”, but thought the photographs that I could find moved it away from photography for me. It feels more like a commentary/critique of what is happening. But you are right, good mix of papers, writing, etc.

  2. Cedric Avatar
    Cedric

    I’m going to the salon de la photo too! Planning to be there on Saturday (we have a bunch of exhibitions to see as well over the weekend).

    Reply
    1. JILL.PHOTOS Avatar
      JILL.PHOTOS

      Awesome! I will be hanging around a lot at the Ricoh booth and probably going to the Nocturne on Friday.

      Reply
      1. Cedric Avatar
        Cedric

        I’ll try to catch you there then.

  3. Leon Goossens Avatar
    Leon Goossens

    This is a nice morning read Jill ☕️! It’s a pity that I don’t have a Ricoh camera, because this ‘Daily Life’ contest looks great! I’ve shared the link with a talented Portuguese friend of mine because it could be very interesting for him…!

    Reply
  4. Juliette Mansour Avatar
    Juliette Mansour

    Would have loved to see you win but in my opinion, being one of 10 judges for the other is a huge honor! Congratulations on that!

    Reply
    1. JILL.PHOTOS Avatar
      JILL.PHOTOS

      Thank you so much, Juliette! I’m super excited about it. :)

      Reply

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